Agriculture scientists urged the government to lift the moratorium on Bt-brinjal declared by former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh and allow research on bio-tech crops.
Scientists from across the world, who attended the ‘Biotech Crops for Food Security in India’ conference held in the city on Monday, said the moratorium on Bt-brinjal is not based on actual scientific data.
he conference was organised by Foundation of Biotechnology, Awareness and Education (FBAE) and Association of Biotech Led Enterprise’s Agricultural Growth (ABLE-AG).
“Jairam Ramesh’s moratorium is not based on scientific fact. It has become quite clear since he had made up his mind to impose the moratorium even before the public meetings were conducted,” said FBAE secretary C Kameswara Rao.
“If there is dissent among the scientific community, then it should be worked out by peers. But the general consensus is that most credible scientific bodies support biotech crops. Seven academies in India published a paper in favour of GM crops. In recent comments, the minister has said that he was not under pressure by NGOs, but I have heard from several sources that this is in fact not true,” Shanthu Shantharam from Iowa State University said.
While most scientists shy away from political rhetoric, an organised scientific effort should be made to appeal to the government.
“Incalculable damage” had been done due to the imposition of the moratorium, Shantharam added. One minister should not
be made solely responsible for taking decisions pertaining to biotech crops, Ron Herring of Cornell University said.
“It is a little odd that the prime minister and the agriculture minister seem supportive (of Bt-brinjal) and yet the environment minister has been made solely responsible for this decision,” he said.
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